The Things Unseen (Make The Soul Ache)-An Interlude
by quietandsneaky
Summary: A birthday request from a friend of mine. Takes place during The Things Unseen (Make The Soul Ache). Kayla has failed one of her random drug tests, and Sam and Jess prepare to confront her about it. Part 1 of 2 complete.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: The characters of Supernatural do not belong to me. The original characters of Kayla and Mary Winchester (Sam and Jess's daughter, not the Mary Winchester from the show) do.**

**A/N: So, a friend of mine that wishes to remain anonymous requested this story for his birthday. It takes place during my story The Things Unseen (Make The Soul Ache). It isn't really entirely necessary to read The Things Unseen to understand this story, but I don't give a lot of background here, so I'll recap briefly. Kayla is Sam and Jess's teenage daughter. She had been getting into more and more trouble, to the point that Sam and Jess decided to send her to live with John. While she lived with John, Kayla confessed to her parents that she'd been drinking, smoking, and doing drugs back home. Sam tells her that while living with John, he and Jess will be making unannounced visits and giving her random drug tests. If she fails one, she stays at John's permanently. That's where this story takes over. They have just given Kayla one of her random drug tests, and she's failed it. That's where this story fits into the larger one. If you'd like more details, read the other story, but be warned that the other story is rated T. **

**This story is in two parts. This part tells mostly Sam's POV, and the second part will be more Kayla's. **

**Also, though I don't come right out and say it, it is heavily implied that Kayla is about to get a spanking in this story. If that makes you uncomfortable or offended, don't read.**

Sam was used to the whirlwind of emotion that had become a part of his life. As he drove down the road back to his father's house, his heart was heavy with what he was about to do. Jess sat in the front seat beside him, and Sam could tell her mind was turning too. Sam was surprised Jess hadn't said anything to him yet. She had let him take the lead on this, but he knew that didn't mean she didn't have some strong opinions about it.

"Sam…"

_Here we go_, Sam thought. "Yeah?"

"Maybe we should talk about this before we go back to your Dad's."

Sam let out an irritated sigh. Kayla was also one of the few reasons the two of them ever argued, and Sam could sense one was on its way. He decided it best to pull over and get the fight out of the way rather than trying to drive and argue at the same time. 

"Talk about what, Jess? We laid it out for her clear as day not one month ago. She fails a drug test, she stays here permanently."

"I know that, but…"

"But what?" Sam asked. "What, Jess?"

"Nothing." Jess said quietly, turning to look out the window. "Nothing, let's just get this over with."

"Jess, please look at me." When Jess continued to stare out the window, Sam grabbed her hand. "Please look at me."

Jess turned slowly, wiping the tears that stood at the edge of her eyes.

"Do you really think I want to do this?" Sam asked. "Do you think this isn't tearing me up inside? That it's not making me feel like a failure as a father?"

"I know it is."

"Tell me what to do." Sam said, and Jess was surprised to hear that he was pleading and not angry or frustrated. "Tell me what to do here. This just tells me one thing. Kayla needs someone who can keep a constant eye on her. I can't do that and work too. You can't do that and work and keep an eye on Mary. Give me some kind of alternative here. Please."

"There's programs…"

"Which I'm going to look into the second we get back home. But until we know for certain that Kayla is completely on the straight and narrow, I just don't trust her enough to come back home."

"Sam, she's fourteen. Can you honestly tell me you didn't do stupid crap when you were fourteen?"

"I did. I did do stupid stuff when I was fourteen. I ran away to Flagstaff and was gone for two weeks. I snuck out of the house, I broke curfew, I did a hundred other things. And every single time I messed up, my Dad and Dean were right there to turn me around."

"But we _aren't _right there." Jess argued. "We're not there. We're parenting from a distance. By phone calls and random visits. We _are not_ there for her."

"We tried." Sam shot back. "Jess, we tried. For months. We tried. We grounded, we punished, we talked to her until we were blue in the face. It would work for a day or two and she'd go right back to whatever the hell she was doing. We can't keep that up." 

"I know."

"And think about this. Jess, she was thirteen and was drinking, smoking, and doing drugs. If she was doing all that at thirteen, what was gonna happen when she was fourteen? fifteen? When she's sixteen and can drive? When she's eighteen and we can't do anything about it anymore?"

"I know. I know you're right. I just…"

"I know. I know it hurts, honey, I do. And if I could think of anything else to do, I would."

Sam swallowed hard as the reality of what this afternoon would mean hit him again. He kept a hand behind Jess's head, gently stroking her hair, and took some deep breaths against the pain shooting through his heart. He closed his eyes and remembered Kayla as a baby, playing peekaboo with him through the bars of her crib as he went in to get her in the morning. Kayla at two, dressing as a lawyer for Halloween, trying to emulate him. Kayla at ten, quiet and not talking to anyone after trying and failing to save her grandmother's life in a car accident.

He missed those moments desperately. But he could see no other alternative right then. As much as Sam loved his father, he hated how much he felt like John at the moment. No matter how much pain it caused Kayla, Sam would rather live apart from her and feel certain she was safe than have her live at home and worry that the next phone call he got would lead to having to bury Kayla. Sam had been through a lot in his relatively short life. A lot that should have killed him. But he was certain that getting that phone call would accomplish what all the monsters and ghosts and werewolves and other supernatural creatures hadn't been able to do.

"Sam?"

Jess's quiet voice broke Sam out of his own train of thought. "Yeah."

"Promise me something."

"What?" Sam asked.

"I know we told Kayla this was permanent. I can't do that to her."

"Jess…"

"Just hear me out. Please. I heard you out when we first decided this, just give me the same courtesy, please."

Sam nodded. "Okay."

"I just keep imagining myself in her shoes. I'm fourteen, and Mom and Dad have told me there's no way I'll ever be able to come back home. There's no way I hear that and think that Mom and Dad still care about me. No matter what they say, there's no way I hear that and believe they still love me."

Sam was silent. He'd been thinking the same thing.

"And add to that the fact that we didn't come when she actually asked for us to come. We keep telling her that we're here for her, but when she actually asks for us to be there, we aren't." Jess wiped a tear away, remembering how guilty they'd felt when Kayla asked them to come to her school play and they didn't. How defeated she'd sounded.

"You know why we couldn't make the play…"

"I do. I also know that we could've given her the choice-be there for the play or be there for her birthday. But we didn't do that either. Sam, as distant as she's become, I still feel like I know her. I still feel connected to her. And I'm scared to death that for every one time she's asked for us to be there, there's a hundred where she's woken up in the middle of the night wanting her Mommy and I wasn't there. Or wanting you and we're across the country."

Now Sam's own tears were coming out.

"I can't do that to her, Sam. I just can't do it. We extend the deadline, tell her another year on top of the one we told her when we were here last, but we don't tell her it's over."

"We need to be consistent on this…"

"And if we don't taper that consistency with some compassion, some kind of understanding, then we don't deserve to have Kayla back. Or even to keep Mary. Because this isn't just on Kayla. That last week she was at home with us, we gave up. We gave up on being her parents. And I'm afraid if we tell her this is permanent, she'll think we're doing it again, but willingly this time." Jess took a breath and said something she had never pictured herself saying. "I'm not going along with keeping her here permanently. If you don't tell her that we've changed that, that we're still giving her a chance to come back home, then I'm packing up me and Mary and moving in with your father and Bobby."

Sam was shocked. "Jess…"

"I won't leave my child forever. I won't do it. I agree she can't come home right now. But I'm not going to take away her only reason to try harder and do better. So tell me now, before we get back on the road. What are we gonna do?"

Sam took a deep breath. He knew, deep down, that Jess was right. He'd known it the second he said it to Kayla. He also knew Jess was right about them giving up. The week before they'd sent Kayla to John's had been full of angry silences, tears, and had caused more damage than all the months of fighting beforehand combined.

"We tell her another six months. Make her go to drug counselling, make her take weekly tests. She fails another test, we add on another month."

"I can live with that." Jess agreed.

"Okay." Sam said, reaching for the key to start the car again. He turned to Jess again. "You know what my Dad is probably gonna do with this?"

Jess nodded somberly. "Yeah."

"I can tell you from experience. It will hurt. It'll hurt bad. But he won't harm her. You understand the difference, right?"

"Yeah." Jess said again. "Yeah."

"If you want, we'll get a room in town tonight." Sam said. "Or we'll start back home."

"Let's just see how this goes." Jess said. "Come on. Let's go."

"Okay."

Sam started the car again, and drove on towards the house. When he arrived, he found Dean, Bobby, John, and Kayla in the kitchen, listening to an excited Mary telling them all a story. To Sam's relief, family friend Jody Mills was there too, giving them a perfect place to send Mary while they talked with Kayla. Mary was animated, using her hands to illustrate whatever point she was making. Everyone was laughing, making Sam and Jess dread the conversation all the more. When Mary was finally winding down her story, Sam cleared his throat from the doorway.

"Daddy! Mommy!"

Mary jumped up from her seat at the table and ran to her mother, who scooped up Mary and squeezed her tight. "Hey, baby. What were you doing?"

"I was telling everybody the story I made up in school this week. You wanna hear?"

"Maybe later." Sam said with a smile, kissing Mary's cheek. "Hey, Jody? We have a great big favor to ask."

"What's up?"

"Can you take Mary out for a couple of hours? We need to talk to Kayla alone." Sam said.

"I don't wanna leave. We comed to see Kay'a." Mary protested. "Please, Daddy."

"You can come back tonight, honey." Sam promised, hoping that the confrontation they were about to have didn't go so bad that they ended up having to leave before he could keep the promise. "But we have some grown-up stuff to talk about with Kayla first."

"Daddy? What's wrong?"

"We'll talk about it in a minute." Sam said, a little sharper than he meant to. When Kayla flinched, Sam asked, a little softer, "Jody, do you mind?"

"Sure." Jody stood up and walked over, taking Mary from her mother's arms. "Come on, kiddo. You wanna help me put some bad guys away?"

"Only if Kay'a comes too." Mary said, crossing her arms and pouting.

"It's okay, Mary. Go." Kayla urged. "You can tell me about it tonight."

"You sure?" Mary asked. "I don't care if I get in trouble for it. I'm not going if it'll make you sad."

"Mary, you don't have a choice." Sam snapped. He pulled out his keys and handed them to Jody. "Jody, you can take my car since her car seat's in there."

"It's okay, Mary. It won't make me sad." Kayla said. "Go. Have fun."

"Okay. Loves you, Sissy. Bunches and bunches."

"Love you too. Bunches and bunches."

With one last dirty look at her father, Mary left with Jody. When they heard the car backing out of the driveway, a heavy silence had fallen on the kitchen. John was the first to break it.

"Sam? What's wrong?"

"Kayla? Do you want to tell them or should I?"

"Tell them what? I don't know what you're talking about."

_She sounds almost convincing,_ Sam thought. "I have the results from your drug test in my pocket."

Kayla flushed and eyed her grandfather. "You said you wouldn't tell!"

"I said I wouldn't tell if you passed. Kayla, you failed. You tested positive for marijuana and pain killers. The levels, the tech said, were off the charts."

"That's impossible." Kayla protested. "I haven't done anything!"

"Kayla." John said from the table. "I told you what would happen if you did anything illegal here."

"I didn't do it!" Kayla insisted. "Grandpa, please believe me, I didn't do it!"

"Then explain this, Kayla." Sam pulled the results out of his pocket. "Explain how this got into your system."

"There's nothing in my system!" Kayla said. "The only thing I've taken since I got here was grandpa gave me when I sliced up my hand. That's it. I swear that's it!"

"Go to your room, Kayla. Your parents and I need to talk." John said, calmly but authoritatively.

Kayla, in a full blown panic now, burst into tears. "I didn't do anything. Please, please, please believe me. There's some kind of mistake."

"Kayla, get to your room. Now. Unless you want me to keep my promise in front of everyone." John said, his voice descending to a low growl.

Kayla decided to try her last, desperate attempt to get someone to listen to her. She pushed herself out of her chair and grabbed her mother's waist tightly. "Mommy, please. I didn't do this. I promise I didn't."

Sam expected Jess to give in. He loved her, but it was just her nature. When Kayla or Mary cried, Jess's heart shattered and she wore her heart on her sleeve. But just as he was about to grab Kayla's arm and pull her away, telling her again to go to her room, Jess stopped him.

"Sam, wait." Jess gave Kayla the hug she was so obviously craving, but held her ground. She pulled Kayla's chin up and wiped her face. "I love you. I love you so much I can't stand it. But you promised me and Daddy this was over." 

"I didn't…"

"Stop it, Kayla. We have proof. Solid proof. Now do what your grandfather said. Go to your room. We're all going to talk for a minute, then Daddy and I are going to find your sister. We'll be back for dinner. You're back on the grounding you were on back home. We will discuss the details when your father and I get back tonight. But you have really let us all down."

"Mommy…"

"Go, Kayla. Now."

Jess pointed up the stairs in the direction of Kayla's bedroom. Every ounce of her energy was being used to maintain her composure. A devastated Kayla left the kitchen and slumped to her room, her howling cries heard all the way downstairs. John was already standing and going towards the staircase. He stopped and patted Jess's shoulder.

"I know that was hard on you. But you did the right thing." 

"I can't…I can't be here for this." Jess said. "I just can't."

"It's okay." John answered. "I understand. I won't hurt her."

"I know. I trust you." Jess said. "Sam, let's go."

"Sam?" Dean spoke from the other side of the kitchen. "You need anything, bud?"

"No." Sam said. "Thanks, though."

"Sure." Dean answered awkwardly. "Bobby, maybe we should…?"

"Yeah." All too eager to get away from what was about to unfold, Bobby and Dean started to race out the kitchen door.

Sam's cell phone rang. He thought about not answering, but when he checked the caller ID, he noticed it was the clinic. He picked it up and couldn't believe what he heard. He thanked the technician again, and though he hadn't believed it possible, Sam felt even worse than he had before.

"Oh, my God." 

"Sam, what is it?" Jess asked.

"That was the clinic. There was a mix-up with Kayla's test. It was a false positive."


	2. Chapter 2

"That was the clinic. There was a mix-up with Kayla's test. It was a false positive."

"What?" Jess asked, a pit beginning to form in her stomach. "What does that mean?"

"The clinic always takes two samples. The tech that took Kayla's today was new. He admitted to the doctor in charge after we left that he wasn't entirely sure he didn't mislabel Kayla's sample with another guy's that was there today. They re-ran the test twice to be sure. Kayla's was negative."

"Sam, tell me we did not just do this. Tell me we did not just…"

Jess looked with alarm at the staircase. John had walked upstairs more than a minute earlier. She grabbed Sam's arm and urged him in a panic. "Sam. Your dad."

Sam jumped into action. He ran to the stairs, his heart pounding, hoping he could get to Kayla in time. Just as he started to call his father, yelling for him for stop, John met him halfway down the stairs.

"Oh, thank God. Dad, we have to talk to Kayla."

"Why? What's wrong?" John asked.

"There was a mistake at the clinic. Kayla's test was a false positive. It was mislabeled with somebody else's. She was telling the truth."

"Well, that explains that." John said.

"What do you mean?"

"Kayla's not in her room, and the side door's cracked. She ran away while we were talking."

One of Kayla's earliest, clearest memories, which ran through her head as she ran from her family, happened when she was six years old and in the first grade. She'd been playing on the playground when she fell and tripped on the concrete sidewalk. She'd earned not only a large scrape on her face, but scraped knees and elbows too. As one of Kayla's friends had gone to get the teacher, another of her classmates, the class bully named Tyler, had teased her about crying so much.

"You keep crying, you'll cry yourself dry 'till there's nothing but a skeleton left."

That, of course, had only made Kayla cry harder. She'd cried so much that the school nurse had called her mother to pick her up. After getting her home, Jess had been concerned that something else was wrong, but Kayla was determined to save her question for her daddy. He would know for sure if it was possible to dry up from crying too much. After he'd gotten home, Kayla had pulled Daddy aside and begged to talk to him 'about something real serious'. Once she was on his lap, Kayla had asked the question. After laughing, Daddy had given her a hug and explained,

"You can't turn into a skeleton from crying, honey. It's okay to cry if you're hurt."

Kayla finally found the place she'd been looking for. Her friend Grace and Grace's family were out of town, so Kayla had snuck into their backyard and was hiding in their treehouse. As she climbed up the stairs and into the sanctuary of the small wooden room, Kayla couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, her daddy might have been wrong this time.

Kayla had been hurting for a long time now. No one knew the real reason, because Kayla had kept it from them deliberately. But with the relative peace that had descended over the family since Kayla had moved to John's, the pain had subsided from a constant, persistent ache to a low, dull throbbing that she was easily able to block out when she kept herself distracted and busy.

The voice was back too. The one that felt like it hid in the back corner of her brain and peeked around the corner to suck all the happiness away from her. She had gotten practiced at shutting the voice out as her relationship with her parents and family gradually improved. But now that everything was falling apart again, she didn't bother to push it away, just curled up into the fetal position in the corner crying.

Trying to cry herself dry.

_Told you it wouldn't work. _

_No one believes you. _

_You can't be a good enough person to stay in this family. _

Kayla tried to piece together what might have happened. What might have made her fail that test. But before long, she gave up. It didn't matter. The voice was blaring, overriding any thoughts that things might get better. That she deserved to be loved and cared for just as much as everyone else in her family did. The longer Kayla sat in that corner, the longer the voice in her head was able to convince her she was worthless. The painful knot in her chest grew larger, and Kayla lost more and more hope.

"Kayla."

Kayla jumped, thinking that somehow her mother had found her. "Mommy?"

"No, Kayla. Try again."

That was when she spotted her. Out of nowhere, a woman had appeared in the tree house with her. Her vision was so blurred by tears it took a few moments to recognize her. Not her mother, but instead…

"Grandma?"

"Hi, sweetheart." Leslie said, moving to sit down next to Kayla.

"H…how?" Kayla asked. "Are you…are you real?"

"I'm as real as you need me to be."

"Why are you here?" Kayla wiped her face with the back of her hand, and another disturbing thought came to her. "You here to yell at me too?"

"Who's been yelling at you?"

"Daddy. Mommy. Grandpa. They all think I did something awful, but I didn't. I swear I didn't."

"Well then, you didn't." Leslie said simply.

"You mean you believe me? Just like that?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Leslie asked.

Kayla sniffed hard, then spotted a box of Kleenex that had been left a few inches away. Leslie handed the box over to her. Kayla blew her nose and finally settled down a little.

"There you go. Feel better?"

"Not really." Kayla said sadly. "I can't do anything right." 

"You listen to me, Kayla Ellen Winchester. I don't like hearing you talk about yourself like that."

"I can't help it. It's true." Kayla replied. "I've messed up over and over and over. This time I didn't even do anything and everybody's still mad at me. No one believes me."

"Come here, young lady."

Leslie pulled an arm around Kayla's shoulder, and Kayla leaned into her grandmother's familiar form. It had been years since she felt it, but the comfort it brought was still there. The hope that all would be well, the certainty that she was loved with no conditions at all, the feeling that she was the most treasured and beautiful thing on the planet. Kayla never wanted to leave.

"I just told you that I do." Leslie reminded her.

"Why?" Kayla asked. "Why do you believe me when no one else does?"

"Because I can see in here." Leslie answered, placing a hand on Kayla's heart.

"Then you shouldn't believe me either."

"I said I see in here, Kayla. In your heart. Not up here in your head."

"What's the difference?"

"Because in here," Leslie said, pointing again towards Kayla's heart, "is the sweet little girl who used to insist on making me give her 'huggies' before I could leave her. Who'd kiss me goodnight and tuck me in when she slept over at my house."

"I haven't seen her in a while." Kayla said.

"I know. Because you've been listening to the voice up here. The one that's telling you all these nasty things about yourself."

"How do I stop?" Kayla asked. "It's all I can hear sometimes."

"I know, my sweetheart. I know. Come here."

Leslie pulled Kayla close to her, and that familiar feeling of being completely safe that always accompanied her grandmother's presence descended over her again. Kayla had craved this ever since Leslie had died, and hadn't realized how much until that moment. Leslie said nothing at first, and Kayla felt herself calm as the seconds passed by.

"Kayla, I want to ask you something."

"What?" Kayla asked, nearly asleep under Leslie's gentle touch.

"I want you to tell your grandma what's making you hurt so much." Leslie said. "And I want you to tell me the truth."

Kayla wasn't sleepy anymore. Her eyes popped open and that sick feeling of dread returned.

"Come on, honey. Please tell me."

"I told you." Kayla said. "Everybody thinks I did something…"

"No, Kayla. I'm not talking about why you ran away today. See, I told you I can what's going on inside your heart, and I meant that. I can see that sweet, precious little girl in there, but I can see something else too. Something happened to you, baby. Something bad that changed you. I know that kind of pain, sweetie. I know what it does to you. And if you don't let anyone help you, it can fester and make you hurt inside when you don't have to. Why don't you tell me, honey?"

Kayla bit her bottom lip. Maybe Grandma was right. Maybe if she shared what happened, it wouldn't hurt so much all the time. Maybe then she could move on, and maybe, just maybe, she could finally have the one thing that had escaped her for so long now.

Peace.

But the voice started in on her again. _She won't believe you either. She'll leave you. _So Kayla buried her secret all over again.

"There's nothing, Grandma."

"Alright, sweetheart. I won't push it. But you remember what I said. The only way you're gonna stop hurting so much is if you trust someone enough to share this with them."

"Nobody cares."

"Now that I know for a fact is not true. Your mother and father and grandfather and uncle Dean and uncle Bobby love you so much." When Kayla shook her head, Leslie kissed her and said, "You know, I heard you that night."

"What night?"

"When your mom and dad told you they were sending you here."

"You did?"

"I did." Leslie looked away, thinking about something. She decided to tell Kayla the truth. "And you were right. I wouldn't have let them send you away if I'd been there. I would've moved you in with me if it was getting too much for them. But just because I don't agree with what they did, it doesn't mean that they don't care or that they don't love you. They're out there right now looking for you."

"They are?" Kayla asked.

"They are." Leslie said. "Why don't you go on back, sweetie?"

"I can't. Grandpa'll spank me for sure now."

"Do you trust me, baby girl?"

"Sure, I do."

"Then trust me now." Leslie assured her. "You start back home, okay? Everything'll be alright."

"I don't want to leave you."

"Just talk to me when you need me, okay? You might not be able to see me, but I'll hear you." Leslie said.

"You promise? You promise it'll be okay?"

"I promise." Leslie said. "I promise, baby."

"I miss you, Grandma."

"I miss you too, baby. Give Grandma a kiss and head on back home."

Kayla was startled when she stepped out of the treehouse to find that it was dark. Immediately, a new sense of guilt started to crush her. She'd promised her father, years earlier, that she wouldn't run away anymore. She'd run once when she was eight, when her mother was sick and in a coma and Kayla had been told she couldn't see her. She'd run again when she was ten, when in a fit of grief induced anger, her mother had suggested that Kayla was responsible for Leslie's death. Though Sam had been understanding both times, he'd made himself clear. She wasn't to run anymore or she'd be in big trouble.

_You should be used to that by now._

"Shut up!" Kayla said out loud, and that was enough to calm the voice for the moment.

She did some thinking on the way back to the house, and decided she'd make a few things clear to the adults in her family before accepting whatever punishment they thought they should deal out. Even if it meant the worst.

Three streets down from home, a sudden storm came upon her. Kayla had always been afraid of thunderstorms, so she picked up her pace and ran. A downpour of rain started. She opened the front door of the house and ran inside, soaked from head to toe. Before she could even think, there were a pair of arms around her neck, practically suffocating her.

"Kayla!"

"Hi, Mommy." Kayla said, wanting to hug Jess back, but was prevented from doing so by her conflicting feelings. She didn't want to get her mother wet, and she felt guilty for worrying her.

"Get in here. You're soaked."

"Yes, ma'am."

Kayla expected her father to be angry, but to her surprise, he wasn't. He wouldn't approach her at first, just stood next to Bobby's desk looking as sad and guilty as she felt herself. John was on the couch, his own face a near mirror reflection of Sam's.

"Young lady, just where were you?" John asked sternly.

"I ran to Grace's." Kayla said.

"John, not now. Please." Jess said, coming back from the bathroom with some towels. "Here, dry off."

"No matter what happened, she knows better than to run away."

"I need to say something." Kayla said as Jess started to work patting her dry. "Please, just let me get this out."

"Say whatever you want, but you need to dry off." Jess insisted. "You'll get sick if you don't."

"Mommy, please. Please sit on the couch and listen to me." Kayla said. "Daddy, you too. Please."

Sam moved from Bobby's desk to the couch. He still hadn't said anything, too shocked from his own actions earlier in the day. Kayla sat on top of the coffee table, wrapped in a blanket at her mother's insistence. Jess finally joined him and John on the couch.

"Where's uncle Dean and uncle Bobby?"

"They're out looking for you." John said, still some bitterness in his voice. "You've been gone for eight hours. We took shifts."

"Oh." Kayla felt a whole new guilt creep up on her. She looked away and down to the floor.

"What were you thinking?" John asked. He knew he should stop, but he couldn't help it. The sight of Kayla's empty bedroom had given him a sense of panic he hadn't felt in a long time.

"Please stop yelling at me. Just for a minute. Please. I just need to get this out. Just please let me talk." Kayla begged.

"Dad, stop it." Sam said, speaking for the first time. "All of us were scared. Not just you. Kayla has the floor. Let her speak."

"Thank you." Kayla said gratefully. She looked up and took a shaky breath. "I'm sorry I ran away. I'm sorry I scared you. All of you." Kayla swallowed; the first part of her speech had been the easy part. "I didn't do this. I've been really good since I got here, except for running away today. But I know too, that I haven't given you any reason to trust me over whatever that tech said today."

"Kay…" Sam said.

"Daddy, please. Let me finish." Kayla said, and Sam closed his mouth and nodded. "I decided on the way back home I'd rather earn back your trust and not fight you guys on this. I won't admit to something I didn't do. That's the same as lying to you. But I won't fight being punished for it, if it means that maybe one day in the future you will believe me."

All three adults, even John, were stunned.

"That's all I had to say. That and I'm sorry again for running away. I know I promised you I wouldn't, and I broke that promise." Kayla looked to the floor, swinging her feet back and forth, waiting for the order to go back upstairs to her room.

"I'm actually glad you did run away this time."

It was Kayla's turn to be stunned. "What?"

"Kay, Mommy and I owe you about a dozen apologies today." Sam said. "I got a call from the clinic after we sent you to your room. There was a mistake with your test today."

"A mistake? What kind of mistake?"

"It was mislabeled by that new tech that was there today. They re-ran the test after we left. Yours came out clean."

A wave of relief washed over Kayla. She'd been vindicated.

"Baby, we are so sorry." Jess said. "I can't even begin to tell you how sorry we are."

"It's okay, Mommy."

"No, it's not…"

"Yes. It is." Kayla said. "I've messed up so many times the last few months and you've forgiven me every time. It's time I returned the favor. Besides, like I said, you thought you had proof and I haven't given you a reason to think otherwise."

"And that is where _you're_ wrong." Sam said. "You have given us a reason to trust you. Maybe not one hundred percent yet, but you have put forth a lot of effort to do better. And Mommy and I should've taken that into consideration. I got to thinking about it while we were looking for you. You haven't shown any signs that you've been slipping since you've been here. I should've asked you about it and taken you to get a second test rather than breaking my promise to you and confronting you in front of everyone. For that, I'm sorry."

"You really trust me more than you did?"

"Yes. You're making some great progress, Kayla bug. And what you just did there? It was very brave. I'm very proud of you."

"Me too." Jess echoed.

Kayla pulled away from the table and got between her parents. She vowed to never take their pride in her for granted again.

"That still leaves the issue of running away." John said.

Annoyed at having their family moment interrupted, Sam sighed again. "Dad…"

"No, Sam. This wasn't just about Kayla this time. She worried all of us."

"It's okay, Daddy. He's right." Kayla said. She sat up and turned to John. "I'm sorry, Grandpa. I shouldn't have run away."

"You're right. You shouldn't have. I understand you were scared, but that does not give you the right to scare the rest of us. Do you understand me, young lady?"

"Yes, sir."

"No matter what might have happened, I for one am _not _glad you ran away. This is the third time, Kayla. Your third strike. I'm not letting this go."

"Dad…" Sam started, but Kayla took his hand.

"It's okay." She said. "Grandpa's right. I promised you and I broke it."

Sam felt his heart burst with pride. Though he may have disagreed with his father that Kayla needed to be punished for this, he was insanely proud of Kayla for owning up to her actions.

"John…" Jess started.

"Jess." Sam said. "Trust me. And trust Dad. Please."

Jess looked even more worried than Kayla did, but she nodded her agreement.

"Kayla, come here."

"Grandpa, please not in front of them." Kayla pleaded, her voice shaking.

"That's not your decision. Come here. Now."

The six inches between Kayla and her grandfather seemed to take forever. The next thing she knew, she was looking at the floor and John's hard hand was making his displeasure known. Kayla could hear her crying softly beside her, but she was too preoccupied with her own situation to try and make her mother feel any better. Then, just as quickly as it had started, Kayla felt herself being pulled to her feet.

"What…?" Kayla asked. The spanking had definitely been unpleasant, but so short that she hadn't even started crying. "That's it?"

"That's it." John smiled.

She would wonder later if she had lost all sense asking her next question, but she couldn't help it.

"Why?"

"Mostly because you came back, not knowing whether or not you were going to be punished for something you didn't do. Your dad was right. That was incredibly brave of you, and I'm proud of you for it."

Kayla blushed. Her grandfather doted on her, but his true praise was a rare treat.

"We're not done talking about this, though." John stood and walked to the corner of the living room, where a small stool was kept, a remnant of the days years earlier of Sam and Dean being sent to sit in the corner. "Sit down."

Despite the very short spanking, Kayla unconsciously placed a hand on her bottom and gave John her own version of Sam's 'puppy eyes'.

John chuckled. "It didn't work with your Dad, it won't work with me. Sit down."

Kayla took her seat gingerly, and John took both of her hands in his.

"I'm going to ask you some questions, and I'm going to tell you some things. I need you to look at me the entire time. You don't look at your mom and dad, you don't look at your feet, nothing. You understand?"

Kayla nodded.

"Answer me. Out loud." John ordered gently.

"Yes, sir." Kayla said. "I understand."

"Okay. First off, that is all the spanking you're getting for this. This time. But you're not getting away with it anymore. I don't care what reason you have. If you run away, and we don't know where you are, then my belt gets added to the conversation. No excuses, no explanations, nothing. And if you're back home with your parents, and I find out you ran away, I will get in the car and drive there to do it, even if your parents have punished you too. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

John felt Kayla's hands starting to shake in his, but he held his ground long enough to get his point across. "You start back to school next week. That is the only place you'll be going. I will drive you there in the morning, and I will pick you up in the afternoon. You will stay in your room, except to do the chores Bobby and I will give you. No after school activities, no friends, no phone calls except to your mom and dad. Any questions?"

"Just one." Kayla said. "Can I wait till Mommy and Daddy go home?"

"Yes." John said. "Yes, we'll hold off on your grounding until they go home."

John wondered who he had become. He had never been this flexible with Sam and Dean. _Oh, well, _he thought. _Must be part of being a grandparent._ Besides, he reasoned, Sam and Jess were leaving the next night. He could live with a twenty-four hour delay.

"You're also writing a letter. Telling us why you ran away and what you should have done instead. You don't have to write a separate one to all of us, but you will read it over the phone to your parents. And I expect you to apologize to Bobby and Dean when they get back. You also need to go upstairs and wake up your sister. She's been worried sick about you."

"Yes, sir."

"Kayla, listen to me. All of us in this room love you. We are tough on you because we love you. That will never change. Ever. Do you believe me?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do you really?" John asked.

"I believe you."

"Now tell me something. And tell me the truth. You don't like yourself too much, do you?"

The tears that hadn't fallen when she'd been spanked were fighting to come out now. "No, sir." she whispered.

"Speak up."

"No, sir. I don't." Kayla said louder.

"Kay…"

"Why?" John asked, ignoring Jess's attempt to reach Kayla and convince her she was wrong. "Tell me why."

"I just don't." Kayla said.

"I need a real answer. You're not going anywhere until you give me one." When Kayla glanced at her parents, John was quick to respond. "Do not look away from me. Answer the question."

"I've done so much to all of you." Kayla finally said.

"And you beat yourself up for it, don't you?"

"Yes, sir." Kayla said.

"Is that all?" John asked. "No other reason?"

"That's all."

"Kayla, I still don't believe you." John said. "I think there's something else going on. But I'm not going to ask what it is, because you're just going to give me the same answer you've been giving me. So I won't push it. But I want to remind you. You can tell me, you can tell Bobby, Dean, your parents. Anytime you want to talk, we will drop what we're doing and talk to you. Okay?"

"Okay, Grandpa."

"And as for beating yourself up? Honey, there is not a person in this family who hasn't made a mistake. One that hurt everybody they loved. In fact, we all made one today too. We hurt you by not believing you and because of that, we lost you."

"I'm sorry…"

"Shh. I'm not saying that to yell at you for it. It's true. If we'd done what we should have done, it never would have happened. Now do you want your parents dwelling on that, even though you've forgiven them?"

"No, sir."

"Then I don't want you doing the same. You made a mistake. You're paying for it. And I believe that you're being genuine when you say you're sorry. So you go through next week, stay in your room like I told you, and that's it. Got it?"

"Got it." Kayla said.

"And I'm sorry too." John said, placing a hand on Kayla's damp cheek. "My gut told me something was wrong the second your father said you failed that test. I should've stood up for you. I'm sorry I didn't. As long as you keep up the good behavior and the good work in school, I promise I won't make that mistake again."

"I love you, Grandpa."

"I love you too, little one." John said, kissing the palm of her hand. "You go upstairs and shower and get into some clean pajamas."

"Yes, sir." Kayla said. "Is there any dinner? I'm really hungry."

"I think we can handle that." Sam said. "What do you want?"

"Pizza?"

"Deal." Sam said.

Kayla stood up and, after a hug and a kiss for her mom, dad, and grandfather, started to head upstairs. Sam grabbed her hand and pulled her to him for another hug. He whispered earnestly in her ear.

"I meant what I said. I am very proud of you. We've been through some tough stuff, but you make me proud to be your Daddy."

"That goes for me too." Jess said.

For a few brief seconds, Kayla's search for peace was over. She expected the voice to come back, berate her for being stupid enough to be happy, but it didn't. So she went upstairs, showered and changed, and came back downstairs. All was well for tonight.


End file.
